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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday told entrepreneurs that they must aim beyond local markets and devise quality-enhancing strategies to ensure international standards for their products and earn consumers' trust across continents.

Vijayan said this while inaugurating the KINFRA Spices Park in Idukki district.

“By using new-age technologies, entrepreneurs must come up with a variety of products. The Spices Park can facilitate processing and value addition of spices and allied products in accordance with modern needs,” said Vijayan.

Noting that the functions of the Spices Park can benefit farmers as well, Vijayan said the Rs 20-crore facility will thus help revitalise the agriculture sector, Vijayan said that “Entrepreneurs must go for value addition of all products possible,” and added that Kerala contributes to 75 per cent of the country’s spices exports.

The Spices Park, has been raised on a 15.29 acre plot by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA). It also marks the realisation of an ambitious Endeavour under the MSME Cluster Development Programme of the Union government.

Vijayan pointed out that the absence of a market chain and inability to find new markets have been a challenge for the food-processing industry in Kerala.

“To overcome this problem, the government will guarantee markets for farm products by facilitating the intervention of the cooperative sector in agriculture marketing. The state budget has earmarked Rs 35 crore for this purpose,” added Vijayan.

The Park has already initiated development of the remaining land as a second phase of the Spices Park, where 10 acres of developed land will be allotted to industrial units.